Rivette @ 80.

There's little mention of Jacques Rivette in the English-language newspapers today; in Der Tagesspiegel, though (and in German), Jan Schulz-Ojala has an appreciation on this, his 80th birthday.

Still, his latest film is wandering from one US city to the next. "If anything, as it lathers up into an abortive attempt at scarlet-woman branding and a goofy siege on the nunnery where a dazed and confused Antoinette has holed up, The Duchess of Langeais works best as the comic bondage fantasy implied in its deliciously sly French title: Don't Touch the Axe" - suggests Ella Taylor in the LA Weekly. More from Kevin Thomas (LAT) and Ed Howard - and much more here.

And of course, Order of the Exile: Concerning the Films of Jacques Rivette has just celebrated its first anniversary.

Update: "Porte of Call," David Pratt-Robson.

Update, 3/3: David Denby in the New Yorker on The Duchess.

Posted by dwhudson at March 1, 2008 9:17 AM